Jazz
 Shortly
after the War of 1812
 From New Orleans, LA
 Instruments included trumpets, trombones,
clarinets, saxophones, and drums
 A mixture of traditional ethnic music, gospel,
blues, ragtime, classical (from Creole
musicians)
 Jazz
– a musical form distinguished by its
reliance on improvisation and its rhythmic
urgency
 Polyrhythmic – juxtaposing two or more
different rhythms
 Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, and Earl
Hines set norms on “stride piano”
 Ferdinand

Morton
1885-1941
 Perfected
Dixieland Jazz –
small ensemble, one of each
instrument, blend of
simultaneous improvisation
 Black Bottom Stomp
 Break
– a measure or two where everyone
stops playing except the soloist
 Scat singing – a form of vocal improvisation
on nonsense syllables
 Ella Fitzgerald - One Note Samba

She was discovered as a 17 year old during a
singing competition at the Apollo Theater. She
was the first black woman to win a Grammy
Award. She died in 1996 in California.
 1898-1991
 From
New Orleans
 Trumpet, vocals
 Nicknamed – “Satchmo”
 What A Wonderful World
 With
style of “hot jazz” sizes of band
expanded
 Hotter Than That – Lil Hardin
 New
style of jazz (1930s)– swing – the special
rhythmic character that jazz musicians give
to the music
 Fletcher Henderson developed swing style
and expanded jazz ensembles to compliment
the style
 Brass section – 3 trumpets, 2 trombones
 Reed section – 3 or 4 saxes (double clarinets)
 Rhythm section – drums, piano, guitar and
double bass
 Henderson Stomp – trading fours
 Mid
1930s, music was primarily for listening,
not dancing
 Benny Goodman – clarinetist, Russian-Jewish
immigrant family, “King of Swing”, first/only
major jazz artist to have a parallel career in
classical music
 Lester Young – played tenor sax, ushered the
transition from clarinet to sax
 32 bar form – AABA form, standard jazz form
 Bridge – a connective part of a composition
 Duke
Ellington – one of the most important
American composers, wrote over 2000
pieces, “It Don’t Mean a Thing” – sung by Ella
Fitzgerald, “Cotton Tail”
 Chromatic – incorporating tones from a
musical scale consisting entirely of half steps
 Mary Lou Williams – popular female
composer, Zodiac Suite (Gemini)
 Bebop
– a complex and sophisticated type of
improvised jazz, for listening rather than
dancing
 Smaller ensemble than big band/swing, more
freedom to improvise
 John
Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie – trumpet
 Charlie “Yardbird” Parker – alto sax
 Made
melodies more chromatic, harmonies
and rhythms became more complex, rapid
tempos and dazzling technical displays
 “Shaw
Nuff” by Gillespie and Parker
 1950s
– return to Dixieland and Ragtime
styles, developed new styles “rhythm and
blues” and “modal jazz”
 Dorian Mode – a scale with the pattern of
WHWWWHW
 Miles Davis – pioneer of modal jazz, “So
What”
 Thelonious Monk – “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
 1960s/70s
– “free jazz”, similar to modal
jazz, just more complex
 Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea,
and Quincy Jones – pushed new style of
“fusion” – combination of jazz and rock
 “Birdland” - fusion
 “So Danco Samba” - Latin
 “I Got You” – blues
 “Easy Listening” – Norah Jones, Kenny G